Chunks of ice fall from CN Tower in Toronto

Chunks of ice crashing down from the CN Tower following a weekend of freezing rain forced the closure of the Toronto landmark and prompted the city’s baseball team to consider cancelling Monday night’s game against the Kansas City Royals at the nearby Rogers Centre.

Police said they had blocked off the area directly under the CN Tower and the baseball stadium due to the “relatively large” blocks of ice tumbling down onto the streets and sidewalks below.

“Fortunately there’s been no injuries reported,” said Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook.

The Toronto Blue Jays said they were working with the CN Tower and local police to evaluate conditions around the stadium and expected to provide an update later in the day.

Toronto, along with much of southern and central Ontario, is recovering from an ice storm that resulted in power outages, cancelled flights and road collisions over the weekend.

The Toronto Blue Jays are currently working with CN Tower and Toronto Police Service to assess the conditions around Rogers Centre and the viability of playing tonight’s game against the Kansas City Royals.

We will continue to assess the situation and provide an update shortly.

Provincial power utility Hydro One said its crews were working to reconnect more than 110,000 customers affected by nearly 670 outages, while Toronto Hydro said the number of customers in the dark had shrunk to 10,000 from about 40,000. In most cases, crews were dealing with power lines and poles downed by high winds or ice-coated trees that snapped during the storm.

The mix of snow, freezing rain, ice pellets, rain and powerful winds that battered the region Saturday and Sunday had made driving treacherous, with provincial police reporting more than 1,600 non-fatal crashes on the highways surrounding Toronto over the two days.

Provincial police also said Highway 400 south of Barrie, Ont., remained closed in both directions after a collision involving two trucks took out the highway divider.

The poor conditions also prompted bus and school cancellations in parts of the province Monday, with schools in Hamilton, Halton and Peel regions closed for the day and buses cancelled in various other districts.

After pummelling Ontario over the weekend, the storm slowly moved east.

In Ottawa, which was under a freezing rain warning, all entrances to the Centre Block on Parliament Hill were closed because of falling ice.

Meanwhile, icy roads were creating slippery conditions in different parts of Quebec, with schools in the greater Montreal area and further afield closed due to the accumulation of freezing rain.

Hydro-Quebec reported early Monday that more than 33,000 of its clients were without electricity, the majority in the hard-hit Outaouais region in western Quebec and the Monteregie region southeast of Montreal.

Air travellers were advised to check the status of their flights before heading out on Monday, with delays and cancellations reported at airports in Ontario and Quebec.

Some universities and colleges also cancelled exams due to the weather, and with heavy rain continuing overnight there were concerns about possible localized flooding.

In Toronto, officials said the clearing of some streets was delayed as crews concentrated on clearing catch basins in an effort to prevent flooding as temperatures rise in the wake of the storm.